Page 107 of My Darling Mayhem

Every part of me was screaming for me to run. To turn around and leave, just like I had when I was sixteen. This wasn’t the life I wanted. But Archer had said danger would be a part of his life…

“He’ll be short enough,” Presley commented before she pulled on the door and graying skies greeted us as we exited the tunnel. Dense trees were all around us, along with dirt mixed with gravel under our feet. Below us there was a deep boot imprint of someone much larger than either of us.

Presley started moving, gun raised, following the prints in the mud.

Rounding an outcrop of trees, my eyes widened as I saw Saul standing in place, facing an all-terrain vehicle. The back passenger door was open, but Kane was still in his arms, one of his meaty hands over Kane’s little mouth.

Kane looked so brave, staring at me with relief. Not tears, as if he knew all along that I’d come. “You two bitches come any closer and I’ll kill him.”

Saul jerked away from the vehicle, adjusting his hold on his son.

Not his, mine.

I locked eyes with Kane, and his little blue gaze remained on me. He still didn’t cry. It was like he knew he’d be okay.

Saul’s gaze flicked over me, looking over my property patch.

“Gotta say, I didn’t expect you to show up. Figured you’d be cowering under the bed somewhere. That’s what you do, right? I heard all about how you ran away from your family, how you hid and ended up falling for a pussy-whipped president.” His chuckle slid down my back, making my grip on the knife tighten.

“Put my son down,” I ordered, deadly and firm as I stepped forward, allowing the second knife to slide into my palm.

The driver’s side door of the all-terrain vehicle pushed open, and another man ambled out. Familiarity had my eyes bulging and my mouth gaping.

“Brian?!”

His smarmy smile made me feel like a thousand bees were under my skin. “Your son, Wren? Really? This kid isn’t yours; he’s the brother to that fucking redneck neighbor. He belongs back in the city, in foster care, and that’s exactly where I’m taking him.”

Presley shifted next to me. I knew she was trying to decipher which one to target.

I stepped closer. “How did you get mixed up in this?”

Brian toyed with the keys while he watched me. “Saul called your office looking for you. I was at your desk when the call came in because, once again, you weren’t at work. We started talking, and it seemed some of our interests aligned. He wanted to know where you were, and I had knowledge of an employee tracking app that Encore Homes uses for its agents. It’s so if there’s ever a safety concern with a client, the data can be given to the police.”

Oh my god.

My mind went back five years to a long-winded safety instruction meeting that would outline Encore Homes’ new policies for all agents that interacted with clients. I was pregnant and exhausted and skipped half the class. Shame flushedthrough my chest, turning it bright pink. How had I not realized my phone could be tracked?

“You forgot about that, didn’t you?” Brian beamed, then paced a few steps, still toying with the keys. “Saul didn’t even offer me money, Wren. He simply offered me the chance to intervene in your life and ruin your new budding romance with the redneck. He needed a driver, and I was told to take the kid back to the foster care system in Atlas. Simple as that. I might not have a motorcycle club at my disposal, but I can deliver an effective ‘fuck you,’ when I want to.”

He chuckled, and I had a moment where all I saw was red. I wanted him dead, to not be in my life anymore, but I wasn’t that person. If he managed to get Kane away from Saul then I’d fight for Kane in court…assuming Saul let me live.

Presley pushed the smallest bit closer, aiming her gun at Saul.

“Lower your gun, or I will kill him. This is my son to do with how I see fit.Mine. That bitch of a mother took him from me. Tried to give him to Archer to raise, and now you think you can step in?”

His eyes were wild, making fear slither around my heart and squeeze.

My voice was even and strong. “He’s mine now. Put him down.” My gaze was on Kane as I tried to convey this new truth that I felt down to my bones. Hewasmine now, and he always would be.

Brian glanced up at him, his face wary, as if he just processed that threatening the life of a five-year-old kid was actually pretty fucking serious.

“Hey Saul, I?—”

Saul produced a handgun from his side and swung it over so fast, Brian never saw it coming.

He pulled the trigger twice, and two holes appeared in Brian’s head. Kane’s expression finally broke as he screamed behind the palm covering his mouth, and tears gathered in his eyes. My mouth dropped as I stared at Brian, lying dead in the mud. His eyes stared up at the endless sky. I didn’t feel anything but shock. He was gone…he’d just been talking, breathing, texting me earlier in the?—

I heard a loud crack from behind me, making me flinch. Saul’s kneecap exploded. I waited for Saul to fall, but he didn’t. He merely shifted his weight, and before he could recover how to protect his other knee, Presley let another shot fly.

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